Portable high speed internet device integrating cellular telephone and palm top computer

ABSTRACT

The invention discloses a portable device that is similar to a combination of a palm top computer and a cellular telephone, and which allows the user to access the Internet and World Wide Web. A host computer that may also be a Web server, is connected to the Internet and comprises various software programs to translate, rasterize and compress images received from the Internet. The compressed images are sent the portable device and the device is capable of decompressing the compressed image. Thus, the user views a bit map image of a Web page. The portable device further comprises methods of pointing and clicking on text and images which represent links to other pages. All commands that the user enters into the portable device are sent to the host computer; which performs the commands via a virtual browser, and sends the information back to the portable device.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a divisional application of co-pending U.S.application Ser. No. 10/448,700, filed May 29, 2003, entitled “PortageHigh Speed Internet Device Integrating Cellular Telephone and Palm TopComputer”, which is a divisional application of co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/504,807, filed Feb. 16, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No.6,633,314, which is a continuation-in-part (CIP) application of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/496,172, filed Feb. 2, 2000, now U.S.Pat. No. 7,068,381, which is hereby incorporated herein by thisreference in its entirety.

PRIOR ART

The background of the present invention includes U.S. Pat. No.5,925,103, Internet Access Device. which describes an improved Internetaccess system, vastly different from the present invention. Other priorart would include palm top computers, hand-held computers and cellulartelephones that have limited processing power due to designrestrictions. Thus, these computers are much slower for accessing theInternet and World Wide Web.

The present invention enhances the server's processing speed, datatransfer and retrieval to and from the portable devices, with the aid ofspecialized embedded software in the server. The result is a costeffective Internet access solution.

SUMMARY

It is an object of the present invention to disclose a portable device,similar to a combination of a cellular telephone and palm top computer,that can access the Internet and World Wide Web, at extremely low costs.It is another object of the present invention to provide fast access tothe Internet such that refreshing pages is quick and efficient.

The principal embodiment of the present invention discloses a portabledevice that comprises a modem that connects to a cellular telephone.Thus, the device has a wireless connection to the Internet. A hostcomputer, which may also be a Web server connects directly to theInternet. The host computer comprises multiple software programs, forexample a Browser Translator, which translates HTML images into blackand white bit map or raster images. The compressed bit map or rasterimages are sent to the portable device, and the device decompresses theimages. Thus, the user views a bit map image of a Web page.

The portable device comprises methods for pointing and clicking on textand images representing links to other Web pages. Clicking events aresent to the host computer that performs the commands via a virtualbrowser. The host computer then sends the required information to theportable device as a compressed image. The portable device decompressesthe image and the user views a new page.

In a further embodiment, the server may also send a message to thedevice containing information pertaining to locations of links. Icons,graphics, or text that are already in bold, and which represent links toother Web sites must be conveyed to the user but it is difficult torepresent such items in bold on the device. Thus, the server maytransmit a message to the device containing the specification of all theareas that would constitute a link on the page so that the palm topdevice would know where a link exists. Therefore, when a user passes thecursor over that area the cursor changes from an arrow to a hand. Theuser recognizes that the icon is a link and may therefore click upon it.

In another embodiment, the process of capturing the raster image,reducing it to black and white, sending it to the device and displayingit on the screen of the device, is done over the standard wireless markup language or WAP protocols.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of the host computer, the portabledevice with wireless connection and the user.

FIG. 2 illustrates portions of the image with respect to the displayablearea.

FIG. 3 illustrates sub-divisions of the image to be displayed.

FIG. 4 illustrates the portable device, the direct server and the hostserver.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The principal embodiment of the present invention aims to provide adevice that allows a user to access the Internet or the World Wide Web(WWW), which device is similar to a combination of a palm top computerand a cellular phone. The device is a cellular type phone (or a wirelessphone) which also contains a screen for the user to view contents of aweb page all integrated into one portable device. It is a further aim ofthe present invention, to reduce the cost of the device. It is a furtheraim of the present invention, is to increase the speed of refreshing thescreen when the user clicks on a link and commands another page to bedisplayed.

Currently, existing palm top devices such as the Palm Pilot VII andWindows CE type devices contain an operating system, and within theoperating system a mini-browser to interpret information received fromthe WWW or Internet and then display this information on the screen.This requires a powerful microprocessor. This is similar to cellularphones except the cellular phones have lesser expensive microprocessorsbut can only usually display some key words such as over a WAP typeprotocol or wireless markup language.

The principal embodiment of the present invention is disclosed inFIG. 1. A host computer 1 is depicted that is connected to the Internetand may also be a Web server. Running in the host computer, is a Webserver program 2. When a remote user 3 requests to view a Web page (orelectronic message etc.) the Web server software receives HTML, JAVA,etc. information and transmits this information to another software, theBrowser Translator 4. This software translates the information, (i.e.the entire image comprising graphics and text) received in the form ofHTML, Java, etc. (information may be gathered from different sources)and translates it to a black and white bit map or raster image. Inanother embodiment, the software translates the information into araster or color image. The image 5, as shown in FIG. 2, contains theinformation that would normally be displayed on a single Web page. Thetranslation program therefore, also acts as a virtual browser 6. As canbe seen in FIG. 2, contains the image 5 to be displayed in a browserwindow 6 is usually larger than the displayable area of the browserwindow 6.

The image 5 is further divided into sections 7, 8, 9, and 10, as shownin FIG. 3. The image is divided after the bitmap or raster is created.The reason for the division (as will be explained later) is for thepurpose of display priority on the user's display. The image 5 is thensent to another program 11 running on the host computer 1 (FIG. 1),which compresses the image using a loss-less compression method. Thecompression method may be group 3 or group 4, or another method.

The programs 4 and 11 can have multiple instances running simultaneouslyon the host server for the purpose of connecting to multiple users. Thecompressed image, after being processed by program 11, is sent to theuser, using a protocol in which information may be broken down intopackets.

The information is received by a palm top phone device 12 that has theability to display a monochrome image, in its display window 13. Theinformation is decompressed and displayed in the order of priority suchthat part of image 7, which substantially or completely covers thedisplayable area 13 (FIG. 2), of the palm device is decompressed anddisplayed first and then sequentially the portions 8, 9, 10 of the imageare decompressed and stored in an internal memory of the palm top deviceto be displayed later when the user scrolls up, down, or sideways tothese parts of the image. So the parts of the image that are notimmediately displayed are received and decoded in sequence of priorityof which image the user may want to see next.

A CPU resident in the palm top phone device therefore has the ability todecompress a bit map or raster image that may be larger than the size ofthe display and allow the user to traverse this bit map or raster image.The primary method of traversing the image is through conventionalscroll bars positioned at the sides of the image.

The resident CPU on the palm top phone device has no ability todetermine which parts part or parts of the image, that is beingdisplayed, represent links to other Web pages etc. Thus, the translatorprogram 4 (FIG. 1) translates the image in the virtual browser 6 suchthat the words that represent links on the page 5 (FIG. 2) aretranslated to be slightly bolder. The user may therefore consider textthat is bold to be links.

The palm top phone device provides the user with a pointing device. Thispointing device may be a touch screen or tracking ball, etc. The palmtop phone device also allows the user to click on specified areas. Assoon as the user clicks on part of an image, the shape of the pointerchanges from an arrow to an hourglass. A message is sent to the hostcomputer. transmitting the location of the clicked down event. A program14 interprets the message and provides a virtual click down in thevirtual browser created in the translator program 4. If the user haspressed in an area of the image that does not represent a link or textbox, a message is dispatched to the palm top phone device whichimmediately changes the hourglass shape of the pointer back to an arrow(in the case of a touch screen. from an hour glass to nothing). Furtherto this, if the user has clicked on a part of the image which representsa link, a new Web page is extracted from the Internet or WWW, translatedby translator program 4 (FIG. 1) into a bit map or raster, andcompressed by compression program 11 and dispatched to the palm topdevice where a new page is displayed. In a further embodiment, the image5 may be continuously being updated and translated and sent to the palmtop phone device where it is continuously being refreshed. This occursonce every few seconds. In the principle embodiment therefore, theserver only responds, i.e. it only refreshes the screen when the userclicks on a link or on a text box.

In a further embodiment, the server may also send a message to thedevice containing information pertaining to locations of links. Forexample, icons, graphics, or text that is already in bold. representinglinks to other Web sites must be conveyed to the user but it isdifficult to represent such items in bold on the device. Thus, theserver may transmit a message to the device containing the specificationof all the areas that would constitute a link on the page so that thepalm top phone device would know where a link exists. So when a userpasses the cursor over that area the cursor changes from an arrow to ahand. The user recognizes that the icon is a link and may thereforeclick upon it. The cursor changes to an hourglass and a message is sentto the server transmitting the location of the clicked down event. Aprogram 14 interprets the message and provides a virtual click down inthe virtual browser created in the translator program 4. A new Web pageis extracted from the Internet or WWW, translated by translator program4 (FIG. 1) into a bit map or raster, and compressed by compressionprogram 11 and dispatched to the palm top phone device where a new pageis displayed.

When the user clicks in a text box or in a box in the display area intowhich letters or numbers must be input, the cursor first changes into anhourglass, and a message is sent to the host server. The host serverrecognizes that the click down event has occurred in the text box, andsends a message back to the palm top device to inform the palm topdevice to pop-up a keyboard on part of the screen. The user then types,using the pointer, the letters or words to be entered into the text boxand presses “enter” or “go”. The keyboard then disappears and the cursorchanges back to an hourglass shape (in another embodiment, the keyboardcould be replaced with a real keyboard or with an area that recognizesusers handwriting). In a further embodiment, the user may use thekeyboard of the phone device that is already provided for the purpose ofdialing his/her phone numbers. The alphanumeric information would thenbe typed in a similar fashion as it is typed for speed dial numbers onthese phones currently. The information typed into the text box istransmitted in a message to the host computer. The host computer entersthe information into a text box in the virtual browser.

The user sees, after a short pause, as the image is refreshed on thepalm top device, that the words, or letters or numbers have been enteredinto the text box. Further to this, the host computer may also break upthe image such that the portion that has been changed, i.e. the text boxarea, is sent first.

In another embodiment, the present invention, images are only refreshedwhen as event occurs such as a mouse down event on a link or in a textbox.

In a further embodiment only those portions of the image that changesmay be transmitted from the host computer to the palm top phone device.Other images in the virtual browser that are continuously changing, suchas banner advertisements, may be the only other images sent to the palmtop computer as they change.

In a further embodiment, the server may also send a message to the palmtop phone device, together with the raster black and white image and themessage containing the link areas, a message containing the location andarea of the text boxes. In this case when the user clicks in a text box,the device realizes that the user intends to input text and provides himwith a keyboard on the screen (or other means disclosed earlier). Afterthe user enters the text, the message is sent to the server in thenormal fashion described earlier.

In the principal embodiment, the palm top phone device sends theinformation and messages through the phone's wireless connection.

Furthermore, the palm top device only contains enough memory to storethe current displayable page. When the user presses a back or forwardbutton, a message is sent to the host server, and the host server sendsthe reference page. The back and forward buttons etc. may be hard wiredinto the palm top phone device, or may be part of the display area.

Further to this, part of the image representing buttons (and otherthings) on the virtual browser may be sent as part of the compressedimage and buttons such as forward and back may be treated the same wayas links are handled as previously described. In the principleembodiment therefore the back and forward buttons are hard coded as partof the device.

In a further embodiment, the palm top device may contain a large screento be used in a fashion similar to a home Internet appliance.

In a further embodiment, the image transferred between the host computerand the remote device. (previously the palm top device) may be a colorimage and the compression method used may be of a Jpeg or othercompression methods used for color images. A gray scale image may alsobe used to reduce bandwidth or display costs.

In a further embodiment, the device includes no screen, but only outputsto be hooked to a television screen or external monitor for display.

The remote device in the principal embodiment only has the ability todecompress the image it receives; display the image it receives; allowthe user to scroll through the image; provide the user with a pointingdevice to point and click on the image; send messages providing locationof click down event; provide the user with a method to input letters andnumbers; send a message containing these letters and numbers.

The principal embodiment contains no other structured or intelligentinformation about the image.

In another embodiment, this entire process of capturing the rasterimage, reducing it to black and white, sending it over to the device andshowing it on the screen of the device could be done over the standardwireless mark up language or WAP protocols, as illustrated in FIG. 4.

A standard cellular telephone 15 with a standard protocol such aswireless mark up language or WAP, no matter which Web page it wants toview will always try to log on the host server. The host server 16 inthis case, is not in direct contact with the device, but acts like astandard Web server that serves Web pages. The device makes contact withthe Internet through its standard wireless connections and possibly to aserver called the direct-server 17. When the device wants to log ontoany Web-page, it always first sends the address for the host server 16and then communicates to the host server of the actual Web page it wantsto see. The host server then pulls that particular Web page from theInternet, rasterizes it, converts it to black and white, compresses theimage and encloses it in the standard protocol, such as wireless mark uplanguage or WAP or HTML.

The device therefore, through the Internet is communicating only, or islogged onto only, the Web page of the host server.

The host server takes the actual page from the Internet and rasterizesit and sends it.

In this case, any standard telephone that has Internet access using oneof the standard protocols can be used that has the ability to show agraphic image.

1. A method to display a document the method comprising: sending arequest for a remote document from a device to a remote server, theremote document having first displayable information in a non-imageformat receiving at the device a compressed image from the remoteserver, the compressed image being rendered from the remote document, aportion of the compressed image being rendered from the firstdisplayable information; decompressing the compressed image to generatea decompressed image; and selectively displaying only a portion of thedecompressed image according a user input to the device.
 2. A method asin claim 1 wherein said selectively displaying comprises: receiving aninput of scrolling the decompressed image; and displaying a portion ofthe decompressed image according to the input of scrolling.
 3. A methodas in claim 1 wherein the first displayable information comprises atleast one of: a) text; and b) Java.
 4. A method as in claim 3 whereinthe remote document further has at least one of: a) icons; b) graphics;and c) text box;
 5. A method as in claim 1 wherein the compressed imagecomprises a plurality of sections; and, the plurality of sections arereceived in a sequence according to a display priority.
 6. A method asin claim 5 wherein a first section of the plurality of sections isreceived, decompressed and displayed before a second section of theplurality of sections is received.
 7. A method as in claim 6 furthercomprising: storing the second section in the device; displaying aportion of the second section in response to receiving a user input todisplay the portion of the second section.
 8. A method as in claim 1wherein the compressed image is received from the remote server througha wireless telecommunication link.
 9. A method as in claim 8 wherein thecompressed image is received from the remote server in one of: a) awireless mark up language; and b) WAP.
 10. A method as in claim 1further comprising: receiving location information from the remoteserver, the location information specifying in the decompressed image atleast one location at which a user input can be accepted for anoperation at the remote server with respect to the remote document; andcommunicating the location information to a user of the device.
 11. Amethod as in claim 10 wherein the at least one location comprises alocation of one of: a) a link to a document; and b) a text box.
 12. Amethod as in claim 10 wherein said communicating comprises: determiningwhether or not a cursor is displayed on the device at a location on thedecompressed image at which a user input can be accepted for anoperation at the remote server with respect to the remote document; anddisplaying a feedback in response to a determination that the cursor isdisplayed on the device at a location on the decompressed image at whicha user input can be accepted for an operation at the remote server withrespect to the remote document.
 13. A method as in claim 12 wherein saiddisplaying the feedback comprises: changing a shape of the cursor.
 14. Amethod as in claim 1 further comprising: storing the decompressed imagein memory of the device in response to a user input; and retrieving thedecompressed image from the memory for displaying on the device inresponse to a user input.
 15. A machine readable medium containingexecutable computer program instructions which when executed by a dataprocessing system cause said system to perform a method to display adocument, the method comprising: sending a request for a remote documentfrom a device to a remote servers the remote document having firstdisplayable information in a non-image format; receiving at the device acompressed image from the remote server, the compressed image beingrendered from the remote document, a portion of the compressed imagebeing rendered from the first displayable information; decompressing thecompressed image to generate a decompressed image; and selectivelydisplaying only a portion of the decompressed image according a userinput to the device.
 16. A medium as in claim 15 wherein saidselectively displaying comprises: receiving an input of scrolling thedecompressed image; and displaying a portion of the decompressed imageaccording to the input of scrolling.
 17. A medium as in claim 15 whereinthe first displayable information comprises at least one of: a) text;and b) Java.
 18. A medium as in claim 17 wherein the remote documentfurther has at least one of a) icons; b) graphics; and c) text box; 19.A medium as in claim 15 wherein the compressed image comprises aplurality of sections; and, the plurality of sections are received in asequence according to a display priority.
 20. A medium as in claim 19wherein a first section of the plurality of sections is received,decompressed and displayed before a second section of the plurality ofsections is received.
 21. A medium as in claim 20 wherein the methodfurther comprises: storing the second section in the device; displayinga portion of the second section in response to receiving a user input todisplay the portion of the second section.
 22. A medium as in claim 15wherein the compressed image is received from the remote server througha wireless telecommunication link.
 23. A medium as in claim 22 whereinthe compressed image is received from the remote server in one of: a) awireless mark up language; and b) WAP.
 24. A medium as in claim 15wherein the method further comprises: receiving location informationfrom the remote server, the location information specifying in thedecompressed image at least one location at which a user input can beaccepted for an operation at the remote server with respect to theremote document; and communicating the location information to a user ofthe device.
 25. A medium as in claim 24 wherein the at least onelocation comprises a location of one of: a) a link to a document; and b)a text box.
 26. A medium as in claim 24 wherein said communicatingcomprises: determining whether or not a cursor is displayed on thedevice at a location on the decompressed image at which a user input canbe accepted for an operation at the remote server with respect to theremote document; and displaying a feedback in response to adetermination that the cursor is displayed on the device at a locationon the decompressed image at which a user input can be accepted for anoperation at the remote server with respect to the remote document. 27.A medium as in claim 26 wherein said displaying the feedback comprises:changing a shape of the cursor.
 28. A medium as in claim 15 wherein themethod further comprises: storing the decompressed image in memory ofthe device in response to a user input; and retrieving the decompressedimage from the memory for displaying on the device in response to a userinput.
 29. A machine readable medium containing executable computerprogram instructions which when executed by a data processing systemcause said system to perform a method to serve a document for displayingon a remote device, the method comprising: receiving at a server arequest for a document from the remote device, the document having firstdisplayable information in a non-image format; rendering the documentinto an image, a portion of the image being rendered from the firstdisplayable information, the image being larger than a display area ofthe remote device; compressing the image into a compressed image; andcausing a wireless transmission of the compressed image to the remotedevice.
 30. A medium as in claim 29 wherein the remove device is capableof scrolling an image decompressed from the compressed image fordisplaying in the display area of the remote device.
 31. A medium as inclaim 29 wherein the first displayable information comprises at leastone of: a) text; and b) Java.
 32. A medium as in claim 31 wherein thedocument further has at least one of: a) icons; b) graphics; and c) textbox;
 33. A medium as in claim 29 wherein the compressed image istransmitted to the remote device through a wireless telecommunicationlink.
 34. A medium as in claim 33 wherein the compressed image istransmitted to the remote device in one of: a) a wireless mark uplanguage; and b) WAP.
 35. A medium as in claim 33 wherein the methodfurther comprises: sending location information to the remote device,the location information specifying in the image at least one locationat which a user input can be accepted at the remote device for anoperation at the server with respect to the document.
 36. A medium as inclaim 35 wherein the at least one location comprises a location of oneof: a) a link to a document; and b) a text box.
 37. A device to displaya document, the device comprising: means for sending a request for aremote document to a remote server, the remote document having firstdisplayable information in a non-image format; means for receiving acompressed image from the remote server, the compressed image beingrendered from the remote document, a portion of the compressed imagebeing rendered from the first displayable information; means fordecompressing the compressed image to generate a decompressed image; andmeans for selectively displaying only a portion of the decompressedimage according a user input.
 38. A device as in claim 37 wherein saidmeans for selectively displaying comprises: means for receiving an inputof scrolling the decompressed image; and means for displaying a portionof the decompressed image according to the input of scrolling.
 39. Adevice as in claim 38 wherein the first displayable informationcomprises at least one of: a) text; and b) Java.
 40. A device as inclaim 39 wherein the remote document further has at least one of: a)icons; b) graphics; and c) text box;
 41. A device as in claim 37 whereinthe compressed image comprises a plurality of sections; and, theplurality of sections are received in a sequence according to a displaypriority.
 42. A device as in claim 41 wherein a first section of theplurality of sections is received, decompressed and displayed before asecond section of the plurality of sections is received.
 43. A device asin claim 42 further comprising: means for storing the second section;means for displaying a portion of the second section in response toreceiving a user input to display the portion of the second section. 44.A device as in claim 37 wherein the compressed image is received fromthe remote server through a wireless telecommunication link.
 45. Adevice as in claim 44 wherein the compressed image is received from theremote server in one of: a) a wireless mark up language; and b) WAP. 46.A device as in claim 37 further comprising: means for receiving locationinformation from the remote server, the location information specifyingin the decompressed image at least one location at which a user inputcan be accepted for an operation at the remote server with respect tothe remote document; and means for communicating the locationinformation to a user of the device.
 47. A device as in claim 46 whereinthe at least one location comprises a location of one of: a) a link to adocument; and b) a text box.
 48. A device as in claim 46 wherein saidmeans for communicating comprises: means for determining whether or nota cursor is displayed at a location on the decompressed image at which auser input can be accepted for an operation at the remote server withrespect to the remote document; and means for displaying a feedback inresponse to a determination that the cursor is displayed at a locationon the decompressed image at which a user input can be accepted for anoperation at the remote server with respect to the remote document. 49.A device as in claim 48 wherein said means for displaying the feedbackcomprises: means for changing a shape of the cursor.
 50. A device as inclaim 37 further comprising: means for storing the decompressed image inresponse to a user input; and means for retrieving the decompressedimage for displaying in response to a user input.
 51. A data processingsystem to serve a document for displaying on a remote device, the dataprocessing system comprising: means for receiving a request for adocument from the remote device, the document having first displayableinformation in a non-image format; means for rendering the document intoan image, a portion of the image being rendered from the firstdisplayable information, the image being larger than a display area ofthe remote device; means for compressing the image into a compressedimage; and means for causing a wireless transmission of the compressedimage to the remote device.
 52. A data processing system as in claim 51wherein the remove device is capable of scrolling an image decompressedfrom the compressed image for displaying in the display area of theremote device.
 53. A data processing system as in claim 51 wherein thefirst displayable information comprises at least one of: a) text; and b)Java.
 54. A data processing system as in claim 53 wherein the documentfurther has at least one of: a) icons; b) graphics; and c) text box; 55.A data processing system as in claim 51 wherein the compressed image istransmitted to the remote device through a wireless telecommunicationlink.
 56. A data processing system as in claim 55 wherein the compressedimage is transmitted to the remote device in one of: a) a wireless markup language; and b) WAP.
 57. A data processing system as in claim 55further comprising: means for sending location information to the remotedevice, the location information specifying in the image at least onelocation at which a user input can be accepted at the remote device foran operation at the data processing system with respect to the document.58. A data processing system as in claim 57 wherein the at least onelocation comprises a location of one of: a) a link to a document; and b)a text box.